December 20, 2010

Bunun

The Bunun (布農), also historically known as the Vonum (The Island of Formosa Past and Present, James W. Davidson - e-book), are a tribe of Taiwanese aborigines and are best-known for their sophisticated polyphonic vocal music. They speak the Bunun language. Unlike other aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, the Bunun are widely dispersed across the island. In the year 2000 the Bunun numbered 41,038. This was approximately 10% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the fourth-largest tribal group. They have five distinct sub-tribes: the Takbunuaz, the Takituduh, the Takibaka, the Takivatan, and the Isbukun. more at taiwandna.com

David Darling & the Wulu Bunun - Mudanin Kata

This collaboration between the Wulu Bunun--amateur vocalists from the Taiwanese region of Wulu--and cellist David Darling is no average "world music" project. While albums like BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB or Ry Cooder's duets with Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure have the polish and overall sound of contemporary North American music, MUDANIN KATA is comparatively unadorned, maintaining a somewhat indigenous and "naďve" sound. The Wulu Bunun consist of both children and adults, and their unusual choral sound may remind some Western listeners of gospel, field hollers, and campfire sing-alongs. The harmonies, though, are utterly distinctive.

Darling's cello joins the Wulu Bunun in an unobtrusive manner, adding bowed backing or simple, repeating figures, or arpeggios in a way that blends naturally with the group's performance. Though there are a couple solo spots for both cello and group singing, the majority of the album consists of these delicately balanced duets. The performances were captured in a valley near Bunun, so the recordings have a wide, open-air feel to them that perfectly complements the organic, soul-stirring music.(source)

“Taiwan’s indigenous people became known to the world through the unique eight-part harmonic singing of the Bunun people, which, in 1943 (when Japanese scholar Kurosawa Takatomo presented recordings of the Bunun music in Paris) caught the attention of Western ethnomusicologists. Nine years later, Kurosawa permanently changed musicologists’ ideas about the origins of music when he introduced a traditional Bunun song called ‘Pasibutbut’ (‘Prayer for the Millet Harvest’) to UNESCO. With its complete harmony, the song overturned the scholars’ original theory that music originated in single-note melodies, progressing to two-note harmonics, and then on to more complex arrangements.‘Pasibutbut’, which has been called the ‘sound of nature’, is said to have been created by a member of the Bunun who was inspired by the sound of hummingbees, a rushing waterfall or the sounds made when crossing through a pine orbamboo forest…

This is a prayer for peace, good health, safety and a rich harvest for the family. It must be sung when sowing and harvesting the crops, and during ceremonies only adult males may participate in the singing.For women to sing it is taboo, and Bunun tradition suggests that this would be to the detriment of the harvest. The singing must also be continuous, with no breaks, or it will likweise affect the people’s health and the harvest for the coming year.”